local organizations with contact information, office
hours and types of help offered.

Supplemental coverage. Under the ACA, if
you are 65 or older and on Medicare, you don’t need
to buy supplemental coverage. The ACA’s Health
Insurance Marketplace won’t affect your Medicare
choices, and your benefits won’t be changing.
Regardless of this fact, unscrupulous marketers are
pushing expensive add-on policies to seniors by
falsely claiming that such coverage is required. If
you have questions about Medicare coverage or
want to get clarity, call 1-800-MEDICARE (633-

4227) or visit
www.medicare.gov.

Medicare or “Obamacare” cards. The ACA
doesn’t say you need a new Medicare card or another
health insurance card, or that you’ll lose Medicare
coverage. And there’s no such thing as an
“Obamacare card.”

“I’m from the government.” The government
will not visit, call, text or email you about your health
insurance, and no one from the government will ask
you to verify your Social Security number or bank
information. Some government agencies might send you
a letter, but they will never ask
you to wire them money or give
them your credit card number.

Official-looking websites. Beware of fake websites
designed to mirror state healthcare exchanges or the official
HealthCare.gov website. After a
visit to a look-alike website,
users may be inundated with
pitches from private insurance
agents unaffiliated with the
government. The official website of the Health Insurance

Marketplace,
www.healthcare.gov, contains links to
every state exchange and can help you avoid copycat
and other phony websites.

Discount plans. Medical discount plans are not
health insurance. Scammers may say that a discount
plan will save you money and that it meets the minimum coverage required under the ACA so you
won’t have to pay a penalty or look at other plans.
Most medical discount plans claim to offer reduced
prices from doctors and pharmacies, and on procedures. Many of these plans don’t deliver on their
promises. Others are attempts to get your personal
or financial information, so the scammer can steal
your identity. C

More in archives

Please note we are not licensed
professionals in any ;eld. If you
are seeking advice you should
consult with your own licensed
professional. We do not assume
any liability or responsibility for
the interpretation, application
or accuracy of any information
provided.

Fight Back! gets social

WHAT DO YOU do to be a
proactive consumer and effect
positive change in the world?
Send us your photos, videos
and comments on Instagram
and Twitter, marked #IFight
Back Costco #Consumer
#Connection, or reach out to
us on Facebook, and we’ll
share them with the entire
Costco community.
Protect yourself

BE SUSPICIOUS OF anyone
claiming to represent the
government in person or
via email, text or phone.
Government agencies typically communicate only
through the U.S. mail.

; If someone asks for
money to help you shop for
insurance, it’s a sure sign
the offer is not legit.

Don’t press any buttons orreturn any voice mails ever.; Report any scamsyou see to the Federal TradeCommission. Call 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357) or goto
www.ftc.gov/complaint.If you think your identity’sbeen stolen, visit www.ftc.gov/idtheft or call 1-877-ID-THEFT (438-4338). CDon’t be a target for new

health insurance scams

OVER THE PAST months, state and federal authorities have reported a rising number of consumer
complaints linked to the Affordable Care Act (ACA),
ranging from deceptive sales practices to identity
theft. It’s no surprise, since scams tend to follow the
headlines. “Whenever there’s something big in the
news we see scam artists trying to use it to defraud
consumers out of their money,” says Tracey Thomas,
a representative from the Federal Trade Commission.

ACA scams especially target the elderly. But even if you’re
older, that doesn’t mean you’re
gullible. You can get scammed
at any age. “Scammers generally
don’t discriminate when it
comes to defrauding consumers, so all consumers need to be
careful,” warns Thomas.

Fraudsters prey on lack of
clarity and information about
what the healthcare law actually
covers, making statements such
as “recipients may qualify for
cheaper auto insurance.” (The
ACA does not affect auto coverage.) These rip-off experts all have one thing in
common: They are trying to deceive you so that you
will give them your sensitive personal information.

Their pitches usually come with a telephone call, a
knock at the door or perhaps an official-sounding
email. The more you know about the scams that are
out there, the less likely you are to be a victim.

“I will help you.” Some con artists are quoting
fees as high as $100 to “help” people navigate the
insurance landscape. You should know that govern-ment-trained navigators and assisters are available
to help at no cost. You can find a list of helpers in
your area at
https://localhelp.healthcare.gov. You can
search by city and state or ZIP code to see a list of